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Produced by

Screenplay by

"Superman
II" begins in midstream, and never looks back (aside from a brief recap of
the first movie). In many ways, it's a repeat of the last ninety minutes of the
first film. It has the same key characters, including archvillain Lex Luthor. It
continues the love story of Lois Lane and Superman, not to mention the strange
relationship of Lois and Clark Kent. It features the return of three villains
from Krypton, who when last seen were trapped in a one-dimensional plane of
light and cast adrift in space. And it continues those remarkable special
effects.

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From
his earliest days in a comic book, Superman always has been an urban hero. He
lived in a universe that was defined by screaming banner headlines and vast
symbolic acts, and Superman II catches that flavor perfectly with its use of
famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, Niagara
Falls, and the Coca-Cola sign in Times Square. He was a pop hero in a pop
world, and like Mickey Mouse and the original Coke trademark, he became an instantly
recognizable trademark.

That's why the special effects in both Superman movies are so crucial. It is a
great deal simpler to show a rocket ship against the backdrop of outer space
than to show Kryptonian villains hurling a city bus through the air in midtown
Manhattan. But the feeling of actuality makes Superman's exploits more fun. It
brings the fantastic into our everyday lives; it delights in showing us the
reaction of the man on the street to Superman's latest stunt. In the movie, as
in the comic book, ordinary citizens seem to spend their days glued to the
sidewalk, gazing skyward, and shouting things like "Superman is
dead!" or "Superman has saved the world!"

In "Superman II" he saves large portions of the world, all right, but
what he preserves most of all is the element of humanity within him. The
Superman movies made a basic decision to give Superman and his alter ego, Clark
Kent, more human feelings than the character originally possessed. So
"Superman II" has a lot of fun developing his odd dual relationship
with Lois Lane. At long, long last, Lois and Superman make love in this movie
(after champagne, but discreetly offscreen in Superman's ice palace). But Lois
and Clark Kent also spend the night together in highly compromised circumstances,
in a Niagara Falls honeymoon haven.

And the movie has fun with another one of those ultimate tests that Lois was
always throwing at Clark to make him admit he was really Superman. Lois bets
her life on it this time, hurling herself into the rapids below Niagara Falls.
Either Clark can turn into Superman and save her -- or she'll drown. And what
then? All I can say is, Clark does not turn into Superman.

This scene has a lot of humor in it, and the whole film has more smiles and
laughs than the first one. Maybe that's because of a change in directors. Richard
Donner, who made the first "Superman" film and did a brilliant job of
establishing a basic look for the series, was followed this time by Richard
Lester ("A Hard Day's Night," "The Three Musketeers"),
and this is some of Lester's best work. He permits satire to make its way into
the film more easily. He has a lot of fun with Gene Hackman, as the
still-scheming, thin-skinned, egomaniacal Lex Luthor. And he draws out Christopher
Reeve, whose performance in the title role is sly, knowing, and yet still
appropriately square.

This movie's most intriguing insight is that Superman's disguise as Clark Kent
isn't a matter of looks as much as of mental attitude: Clark is disguised not
by his glasses but by his ordinariness. Beneath his meek exterior, of course,
is concealed a superhero. And, the movie subtly hints, isn't that the case with
us all?

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